Exile Tibetan government optimistic about resumption of talks

Exile Tibetan government optimistic about resumption of talks
Phayul
January 22, 2010

Dharamsala, Jan 22 -- The exile Tibetan
government has said it will sidestep the blame
game with China and seek the earliest resumption
of talks, reported the Asia Times Online.

"The Tibet issue needs to be resolved through
dialogue and negotiation between the Tibetan and
People's Republic of China leadership," Samdhong
Rinpoche, prime minister of the Tibetan
government in exile, told Asia Times Online. "I
wish Tibetans' hopes will become a reality."

"Everybody has the right to hope for better a
relationship between Dharamsala and Beijing
because the Tibet issue needs to be resolved
through dialogue and negotiation between the
Tibetan and People's Republic of China
leadership," Rinpoche was quoted as saying.

The former academician said the envoys of His
Holiness the Dalai Lama "are in regular contact
with their counterparts in Beijing" as this
"falls within their responsibilities".

"The dialogue process may hopefully take a new
shape this year," Rinpoche said. "I will not say
that I have great expectations, but I would say
that we have hope that some improvement will come
in the process. We only demand people's support
and unity regarding this issue and hope it will be resolved.

"I do not need to say anything else, whatever is
in progress is going good, and things will be resolved," he said.

Thubten Samphel, a spokesperson for the Tibetan
government in exile, said it was high time the
Chinese leaders talked with the Dalai Lama's
envoys. The government in exile will adopt a new
approach to gain the support of as many Chinese
people as possible for its cause.

Asked what new efforts his government will make
to achieve the resumption of talks with Beijing,
Samphel said: "We will maintain what we have been
doing. One new effort is to approach as many
Chinese people as possible to spread our message.
Our struggle is not anti-China or anti-Chinese.
It is for the interests of us Tibetan people. If
we can persuade one Chinese person, this will
have a multiplying effect in the Chinese
community, so that they could have a better
understanding of our cause and become more sympathetic."

Talks between Dalai Lama's envoys and Beijing
came to a standstill after a "Memorandum on
Genuine Autonomy for the Tibetan People"
submitted by the Tibetan side at the eighth round
of talks met with Beijings derision with the
Chinese side calling it a demand for
half-independence and disguised independence or covert independence."

The Tibetan Task Force is currently holding its
20th meeting, since it was formed in 1999 to
mainly assist the envoys of His Holiness the
Dalai Lama in their talks with China, here in
Dharamsala, the seat of the Tibetan
Government-in-Exile in north India. Exile
Tibetans supporting the Middle Way Approach of
their government seem optimistic that the task
force meeting will be followed by resumption of
talks with China soon. However, with the
sensitive Tibetan National Uprising Day little
more than a month away, Tibet observers and
pro-independence activists view that the
resumption of talks any time before it will not come as a surprise for them.